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"Hey, Tony, where's the President?"
Previously, Colonel Rhodes was dispatched by the Department of Defense on a secret mission, which prevented him from arriving immediately to participate in the presidential rescue operation after receiving Tony Stark's notification.
"Did I just miss something?"
Colonel Rhodes surveyed the chaotic battlefield and felt an inexplicable sense of unease.
The President couldn't have been killed, could he?
"Rhodes, it's a good thing you arrived late, otherwise you probably would have ended up like the two of us."
Tony Stark was always very lenient with his friends and wasn't annoyed by the other party's 'lateness.' Instead, he explained weakly, "Although I don't know exactly what happened just now, one thing is for sure: since Killian didn't recapture President Ellis for a public execution, President Ellis must have been successfully rescued by that Superpower Squad that arrived later, right?"
"Superpower Squad?"
Colonel Rhodes was instantly bewildered. He hadn't heard anyone mention any Superpower Squad before he arrived here.
"Uh... let's not talk about this nonsense for now. Hurry up and put me down, I can't feel my hand anymore," Tony Stark urged painfully.
At this moment, Human Torch also said with a bitter face, "Me too!"
...
Sky Carrier.
"Thank goodness, Jonathan is finally safe."
Seeing her brother Human Torch and Tony Stark successfully rescued by Colonel Rhodes, who arrived last, Susan Stone immediately burst into tears of joy, and the burden on her heart finally lifted.
"Phew... I didn't expect the Hyperspace Group to actually make a move."
Captain America let out a long sigh, recalling the live broadcast that had just ended, feeling both emotional and relieved.
Whether it was he, Black Widow, Hawkeye, or others, although they usually complained about Tony Stark's selfish and narcissistic personality, they had actually accepted his difficult personality long ago.
After all, who would refuse to be friends with a wealthy and charitable tycoon?
So, no one truly wished to see Tony Stark's tragic death.
However, they were powerless in this matter, so they could only watch helplessly as events unfolded, unable to intervene.
Yet, just when everyone thought Tony Stark and Jonathan Stone were surely doomed this time, who would have thought that the Hyperspace Group's rescue team would unexpectedly appear?
Although they were there to rescue President Matthew Ellis, they didn't even bother to glance at the two, let alone actively rescue them.
But fortunately, Aldrich Killian and his group were successfully annihilated in the process.
This indirectly saved the lives of Tony Stark and Jonathan Stone.
Everyone felt deeply relieved about this.
However, it was clear that not everyone was satisfied with this outcome... especially Commander Nick Fury!
At this moment, Nick Fury's expression was extremely grim.
Because in his opinion, the glory that originally belonged to S.H.I.E.L.D. was once again stolen by that damned Karl Merks...
He would rather see President Matthew Ellis, Tony Stark, and Human Torch burned alive by the Ten Rings Gang than see the former rescued by Karl Merks's people.
Furthermore, after witnessing the strength of Logan, Little Wolf Girl, and Lorna Dane, he was green with envy.
Especially Logan.
Originally, more than a decade ago, to monitor the smooth completion of the "Mutant Extermination Plan" led by S.H.I.E.L.D., Nick Fury had specifically dispatched a large number of Skrull to track and investigate the situation of X-Men members other than Professor X, as well as those Mutants with powerful abilities.
And in his eyes, the X-Men, led by Professor X, had always been the biggest unstable factor among the entire Mutant race.
Because these freaks had both abilities and technology.
The most important thing was having Professor X, an unpredictable "mind-reading" expert, so much so that during the X-Men's most glorious period, even Nick Fury and S.H.I.E.L.D. dared not confront them directly, only secretly tripping them up behind their backs.
Thus, from that time on, a long period of surveillance, measured in years, began...
It wasn't until Nick Fury officially confirmed that most of the X-Men had died prematurely due to the m43 virus, and the remaining members who miraculously escaped gradually lost their Mutant abilities under the influence of the m43 virus, that he finally felt relieved.
He then withdrew all the Skrull Agents responsible for monitoring other Mutants, except for a few powerful ones.
Leaving those Mutants who had lost their superpowers to fend for themselves.
And so, a few more years passed, until Professor X's superpowers went out of control due to an epileptic seizure, leading to the sensational Westchester Incident, which resulted in the deaths of the only remaining 7 main X-Men members on the spot, besides Logan Howlett, and over six hundred ordinary people in the nearby area falling into brain death, after which he was wanted nationwide by the Department of Homeland Security. Only then did Nick Fury contentedly withdraw the last part of his surveillance personnel.
And he clearly remembered that the report at the time showed that Logan Howlett's self-healing ability had already shown significant signs of weakening then.
Even in repeated attack tests by Skrull Agents disguised as thugs, several unhealable scars were successfully left on Logan Howlett's body.
It was precisely for this reason that Nick Fury had never regarded Logan Howlett as a dangerous target since then.
But who would have thought that, even today, this old wolf, who should have been on his last legs, still possessed such terrifying self-healing abilities?
Even if only an Adamantium skeleton remained, he could still "bring flesh to bones and revive the dead"!!
"Motherfucker, didn't the intelligence say that Logan Howlett's Mutant ability had long become overwhelmed? How did it get stronger and stronger?"
Nick Fury roared viciously in his mind.
However, besides Logan, Lorna Dane, who could control magnetism, also greatly alarmed him.
Isn't this ability a replica of Magneto's?
Although it was evident that Lorna Dane was still somewhat clumsy and unpracticed in using this Mutant ability.
But given time, she would surely grow to the same level as Magneto!
The thought that Karl's subordinates had gained two more... oh no, the fierce fighting style of Little Wolf Girl, and Pietro with "super speed" were also eye-catching, so it should be four more powerful superhumans, without S.H.I.E.L.D.'s knowledge, made Nick Fury feel worse than if his family had died.
Originally, after successfully recruiting Susan Stone, Jonathan Stone, and Ben Grimm, three superhumans, Nick Fury was confident that S.H.I.E.L.D.'s overall strength would soon catch up with the Hyperspace Group.
But now it seemed that the other party had clearly not been idle during this time!
Nick Fury even had a dark suspicion that Karl Merks had actually known the location of the President's kidnapping all along.
The reason he hadn't acted sooner was to deliberately wait for Tony Stark and Human Torch to fail, thereby taking the opportunity to step on S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Avengers.
The thought of his painstakingly assembled Avengers, which had gained considerable popularity in the Battle of New York a few months ago, but was quickly outshone by Karl Merks's subordinates, almost made Nick Fury explode on the spot.
But he was powerless to do anything about it.
He couldn't win in a fight, nor could he outwit him. Besides secretly raging in impotent Fury, he had no way to deal with Karl.
Nick Fury: I'm bitter inside, but I can't say it!!
...
Although the live broadcast was interrupted, The Daily Bugle's revelations did not stop.
John Jameson personally appeared in the live broadcast room to provide deeper and more explosive revelations for the eager netizens.
"According to insiders, the real cause of today's presidential kidnapping actually dates back to a New Year's Eve party in 1999..."
"At that time, the ambitious Aldrich Killian traveled thousands of miles to find Tony Stark, hoping to convince his idol with his talent to invest in his project..."
"But who would have thought, things went against his wishes. Tony Stark, who was then indulging in pleasures and only thinking about spending a night with beautiful women, in order to prevent his ugly and limping fan from ruining everyone's mood, actually deliberately tricked him into going to the rooftop, and then stood Aldrich Killian up for an entire night."
"And Aldrich Killian, who had been exposed to the cold wind on the rooftop all night, decided from that moment on that he would seek revenge on his former idol no matter what."
"So, he used his intelligence to gradually embark on the path of revenge... First, he co-developed the Extremis Virus, which could give people self-healing abilities and the ability to release high-temperature attacks."
"Then, he secretly founded the Ten Rings Gang, and at the opportune moment, created a terrorist attack on the streets of New York to attract public attention, making it convenient for him to kidnap the President."
"The final result, I believe everyone has seen, without a doubt, he succeeded!!"
"And Aldrich Killian's purpose in doing this, besides taking the opportunity to get revenge on Tony Stark, actually harbored another, greater ambition..."
At this point, John Jameson cunningly paused, and only when he estimated that the curious onlookers in the live broadcast room were already scratching their heads in impatience, did he continue:
"That is, he wanted to publicly execute President Ellis, allowing Vice President Rodriguez to successfully take office... Yes, the Vice President had actually colluded with him long ago. As long as Aldrich Killian's plan succeeded, he would transform into the one truly controlling America's power and destiny, hiding behind Rodriguez!"
"How about it, dear fans, doesn't the truth sound terrifying... If General Ross hadn't promptly requested a rescue from Mr. Karl Merks, Aldrich Killian's plan would probably have succeeded by now."
"That's right, Mr. Karl Merks 'once again' saved our America in times of crisis, so in my opinion, he is the true hero!!!"
Hundreds of thousands of viewers in the live broadcast room immediately erupted, flooding the screen with comments: "Hero Karl, America's guardian..."
Through John Jameson's revelations, the popularity of this incident directly increased by another level.
At least it brought Karl nearly tens of millions, or even millions, more Prestige value!
Even Karl couldn't help but look at John Jameson's audacious move with new eyes; this guy truly understood how to play the traffic game now.
...
...
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington D.C..
President Matthew Ellis returned to the White House under the protection of General Ross and a group of American soldiers.
Originally, the task of protecting the President should have been handled by USSS Secret Service Agents, but President Matthew Ellis was now like a startled bird, trusting no one except General Ross, who had led the rescue operation.
He even suspected that his previous capture by Aldrich Killian's subordinates was due to traitors within the USSS who had leaked his whereabouts in advance.
So, this lucrative task naturally fell to General Ross and the Department of Defense.
President Matthew Ellis forcefully pushed open the office door and looked at Vice President Rodriguez, who was beaming and preparing for the presidential inauguration ceremony, and sneered, "You scoundrel, I trusted you so much before, but I never expected you to secretly collude with the Ten Rings Gang, wanting to get rid of me and take my place..."
"Ah, President Ellis, you... you're not dead... Oh no, I mean it's great that you're safe."
Vice President Rodriguez was instantly shocked, desperately suppressing the fear rising in his heart, and forced a smile, feigning calmness:
"I think you must have misunderstood something. I swear to God, I don't know any members of the Ten Rings Gang at all!"
However, President Matthew Ellis did not listen to his sophistry and directly ordered General Ross behind him:
"Arrest him! I will sentence him to life imprisonment for treason, and he will spend the rest of his life in the worst prison..."
"Also, anyone involved in this kidnapping incident, no matter their identity or important position, arrest them all! Not a single one should be let go!"